Law Commons^™

International Human Rights Are Taking Hold In U.S. States, Cities, And Towns, Human Rights Institute

Human Rights Institute

New York, NY (December 10, 2012) – Incorporating human rights into local policies and decision-making leads to effective, sustainable, and responsive policies, according to a new report released today by Columbia Law School’s Human Rights Institute.

Draconian Discrimination: One Man's Battle With U.S. Immigration Law For Fairness, Justice, And American Citizenship, Rachel Zoghlin

Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Law And Ethics For Robot Soldiers, Kenneth Anderson, Matthew Waxman

Popular Media

Policy Review American University, WCL Research Paper No. 2012-32 Columbia Law School Public Law & Legal Theory Working Paper Group Paper No.12-313AbstractLethal autonomous machines will inevitably enter the future battlefield — but they will do so incrementally, one small step at a time. The combination of inevitable and incremental development raises not only complex strategic and operational questions but also profound legal and ethical ones. The inevitability of these technologies comes from both supply-side and demand-side factors. Advances in sensor and computational technologies will supply “smarter” machines that can be programmed to kill or destroy, while the increasing tempo of …

Law And Ethics For Robot Soldiers, Kenneth Anderson, Matthew Waxman

Popular Media

Policy Review American University, WCL Research Paper No. 2012-32 Columbia Law School Public Law & Legal Theory Working Paper Group Paper No.12-313AbstractLethal autonomous machines will inevitably enter the future battlefield — but they will do so incrementally, one small step at a time. The combination of inevitable and incremental development raises not only complex strategic and operational questions but also profound legal and ethical ones. The inevitability of these technologies comes from both supply-side and demand-side factors. Advances in sensor and computational technologies will supply “smarter” machines that can be programmed to kill or destroy, while the increasing tempo of …

The Affordable Care Act And Health Promotion: The Role Of Insurance In Defining Responsibility For Health Risks And Costs, Wendy K. Mariner

Faculty Scholarship

This article examines whether insurance is an appropriate mechanism for improving individual health or reducing the cost of health care for payers. The Affordable Care Act contains implicit standards for allocating responsibility for health, especially in provisions encouraging health promotion and wellness programs. A summary of the accumulating evidence of the effects of such programs suggests that wellness programs have been somewhat more effective in making people feel better than in reducing costs. Health promotion should be encouraged, because health is valuable for its own sake. Insurance is not well suited to improve health or manage behavioral risks to health; …

Civil Rights Reform And The Body, Tobias Barrington Wolff

All Faculty Scholarship

Discrimination on the basis of gender identity or expression has emerged as a major focus of civil rights reform. Opponents of these reforms have structured their opposition around one dominant image: the bathroom. With striking consistency, opponents have invoked anxiety over the bathroom -- who uses bathrooms, what happens in bathrooms, and what traumas one might experience while occupying a bathroom -- as the reason to permit discrimination in the workplace, housing, and places of public accommodation. This rhetoric of the bathroom in the debate over gender-identity protections seeks to exploit an underlying anxiety that has played a role in …

How The Expressive Power Of Title Ix Dilutes Its Promise, Dionne L. Koller

All Faculty Scholarship

Title IX is widely credited with shaping new norms for the world of sports by requiring educational institutions to provide equal athletic opportunities to women. The statute and regulations send a message that women are entitled to participate in sports on terms equal to men. For several decades, this message of equality produced dramatic results in participation rates, as the number of women interested in athletics grew substantially. Despite these gains, however, many women and girls, especially those of color and lower socio-economic status, still do not participate in sports, or remain interested in participating, in numbers comparable to their …

Introduction: Special Issue On Law, Kenneth Lasson

All Faculty Scholarship

Just as ensuring civil liberties for all requires eternal vigilance, so combating antisemitism is a never-ending quest. But the continuous monitoring of antisemitic incidents—a critical exercise that this journal painstakingly reflects in its “Antisemitica” feature—is merely the beginning of the everlasting effort to limit them. Bigotry comes in many guises and is a constantly evolving target, exposing the limitations of law and the frustrations of justice.

Thus, even in civilized societies where equality under the law is a guiding principle, legal remedies for discrimination are insufficient in and of themselves. They must be accompanied by purposeful good-will and a firm …

Game Changer, Erin Buzuvis

Faculty Scholarship

This Article celebrates the 40th anniversary of Title IX and the activists who have fought for women's equal educational opportunities. Title IX's success is due to the eternal vigilance of the law's supporters, who continue to defend it through the political process and in the courts. The Author notes that this vigilance must continue in order for the law to address persistent sex discrimination, and to guard against unwarranted sex segregation.

Common-Law Interpretation Of Appropriate Education: The Road Not Taken In Rowley, Mark Weber

College of Law Faculty

Thirty years old in 2012, Board of Education v. Rowley is the case that established a some-benefit or floor-of-opportunity standard for the services public school districts must provide to children who have disabilities. But the some-benefit approach is by no means the only one the Court could have adopted. It could have endorsed the view of the lower courts that each child with a disability must be given the opportunity to achieve his or her potential commensurate with the opportunity offered other children. Or it could have adopted a standard based on achievement of the child’s full potential or the …

Procedures And Remedies Under Section 504 And The Ada For Public School Children With Disabilities, Mark Weber

College of Law Faculty

Much has been written about procedures and remedies under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, but few scholars have explored procedural rights and corresponding mechanisms of administrative and judicial relief for victims of public schools’ violations of children’s rights under section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. This paper will discuss the administrative procedures that must be followed in hearings regarding complaints of violations of those laws by public school districts and the relief that hearing officers and courts may provide. It will begin with an update on developments regarding …

Robert Cumming Schenck: Ohio's Bitter, Fearless Fighter, Devin C. Capece

The 39th Congress Project

No abstract provided.

Title Vii Works - That's Why We Don't Like It, Chuck Henson

Faculty Publications

In response to the universal belief that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is not fulfilling its purpose, this Article presents a different perspective on the reality of this federal employment discrimination law. Title VII is fulfilling the purpose of the Congress that created it. The purpose was not the eradication of all discrimination in employment. The purpose was to balance the prohibition of the most obvious forms of discrimination with the preservation of as much employer decision-making latitude as possible. Moreover, the seminal Supreme Court decision, McDonnell Douglas v. Green, accurately implemented this balance. This Article …

The Twelve-Year-Old Girl's Lawsuit That Changed America: The Continuing Impact Of Now V. Little League Baseball, Inc. At 40, Douglas E. Abrams

Faculty Publications

In 1972, Little League's national office forced 12-year-old Maria Pepe off her Hoboken (N.J.) team because "[g]irls are not eligible." The New Jersey Division on Civil Rights sustained her gender discrimination claim in 1973, and the courts upheld the administrative decision a year later.

National reaction to Maria Pepe's courageous insistence on gender equity helped sustain the evolution in gender roles that had accelerated since the Women's Movement of the 1960s. Her landmark legal action also likely influenced the Supreme Court's gradual movement toward intermediate scrutiny of gender discrimination claims; the 1975 federal regulations that assured Title IX of the …

Plausibility And Disparate Impact, Joseph Seiner

Faculty Publications

In Twombly v. Bell Atlantic Corp., 550 U.S. 644 (2007), and Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 129 S. Ct. 1937 (2009), the Supreme Court introduced a new plausibility pleading standard, abrogating well-established precedent. Under this standard, a plaintiff must now allege enough facts in the complaint to state a plausible claim to relief. Twombly and Iqbal transformed civil procedure law, and both the courts and litigants have struggled with its meaning. One area that has been dramatically affected by these recent decisions is the field of workplace discrimination.

There are two types of employment discrimination claims – intentional (or disparate treatment) and …

Brief For Prof. Leslie C. Griffin As Amica Curiae In Support Of Neither Party, Cannata V. Catholic Diocese Of Austin, Leslie C. Griffin

Supreme Court Briefs

No abstract provided.

Brief For Prof. Leslie C. Griffin As Amica Curiae In Support Of Appellant, Scott V. Pierce, Leslie C. Griffin

Supreme Court Briefs

No abstract provided.

Brief For Prof. Leslie C. Griffin Et Al. As Amici Curiae In Support Of Respondents, Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church And School V. E.E.O.C., Leslie C. Griffin

Supreme Court Briefs

No abstract provided.

The Social Context Of Oncofertility, Dorothy E. Roberts

All Faculty Scholarship

A field known as oncofertility provides female cancer patients with a variety of ways to preserve their fertility so that they may bear genetically related children after successful cancer treatment. Some women delay cancer therapy so doctors can collect their eggs, which are then cryopreserved in an unfertilized state or used to create embryos through in vitro fertilization for freezing. An experimental procedure for preserving the fertility of prepubertal girls, known as ovarian tissue cryopreservation, involves surgically removing their ovarian tissue and growing the immature eggs to a mature state so they can be frozen and stored until the girls …

Reproducing Value: How Tax Law Differentially Values Fertility, Sexuality & Marriage, Tessa R. Davis

Faculty Publications

Section 213 of the Internal Revenue Code permits a deduction for an individual’s fertility expenses, but it does not do so evenhandedly. This paper focuses on the current discriminatory effects of §213 doctrine as it is applied to the deductibility of fertility treatments for single persons and/or homosexual couples, as compared to heterosexual, married couples. Traditional economic analysis of the Code fails to explain such discrimination, thus a new approach is required. Utilizing tools from anthropological theory, this paper recognizes and analyzes our tax code (and specifically §213) as a cultural artifact and therein challenges the presumed objectivity of our …

Discrimination In Hiring Based On Past Bankruptcy Filing Allowed For Private Employers, Megan Quail

Bankruptcy Research Library

(Excerpt)

Section 525 of the Bankruptcy Code protects employees who currently are or have previously been in bankruptcy from discrimination. It contains two subsections. Subsection (a) states that government employers may not deny employment to, terminate the employment of, or discriminate with respect to employment against a person who has filed bankruptcy solely because of that filing. Subsection (b) provides that no private employer “may terminate the employment of, or discriminate with respect to employment against” individuals for declaring bankruptcy. The salient difference is that the section applying to private employers does not mention denial of employment in its list …

The Thirteenth Amendment And Pro-Equality Speech, William M. Carter Jr.

Articles

The Thirteenth Amendment’s Framers envisioned the Amendment as providing federal authority to eliminate the “badges and incidents of slavery.” The freemen and their descendants are the most likely to be burdened with the effects of stigma, stereotypes, and structural discrimination arising from the slave system. Because African Americans are therefore the most obvious beneficiaries of the Amendment’s promise to eliminate the legacy of slavery, it is often mistakenly assumed that federal power to eradicate the badges and incidents of slavery only permits remedies aimed at redressing the subordination of African Americans. While African Americans were the primary victims of slavery …

Soul Of A Woman: The Sex Stereotyping Prohibition At Work, Kimberly A. Yuracko

Faculty Working Papers

In 1989 the Supreme Court in Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins declared that sex stereotyping was a prohibited from of sex discrimination at work. This seemingly simple declaration has been the most important development in sex discrimination jurisprudence since the passage of Title VII. It has been used to extend the Act's coverage and protect groups that were previously excluded. Astonishingly, however, the contours, dimensions and requirements of the prohibition have never been clearly articulated by courts or scholars. In this paper I evaluate four interpretations of what the sex stereotyping prohibition might mean in order to determine what it actually …

Invisible Discrimination: Employers & Social Media Sites, Richard L. Pate

WCBT Working Papers

With the advent and popularity of social networks sites, the boundaries of the relationship between the employer-employee/prospective employee have stretched well beyond the work-place and work-hours. Predictably, this relationship expansion has led to unchartered adversarial scenarios between the respective parties. Unfortunately, in this new, vibrant cyber world, traditional employment law considerations are struggling for deference and rumination. Notwithstanding this ostensible indifference, each phase of the relationship is heavily impacted by social network media. Applicant recruitment, information gathering and applicant selection stand to be impacted by the social network communications made by employees or prospective employees. This article examines whether present …

The Past And Future Of Deinstitutionalization Litigation, Samuel R. Bagenstos

Articles

Two conflicting stories have consumed the academic debate regarding the impact of deinstitutionalization litigation. The first, which has risen almost to the level of conventional wisdom, is that deinstitutionalization was a disaster. The second story challenges the suggestion that deinstitutionalization has uniformly been unsuccessful, as well as the causal link critics seek to draw with the growth of the homeless population. This Article, which embraces the second story, assesses the current wave of deinstitutionalization litigation. It contends that things will be different this time. The particular outcomes of the first wave of deinstitutionalization litigation, this Article contends, resulted from the …

Beyond The Private Attorney General: Equality Directives In American Law, Olatunde C.A. Johnson

Faculty Scholarship

American civil rights regulation is generally understood as relying on private enforcement in courts rather than imposing positive duties on state actors to further equity goals. This Article argues that this dominant conception of American civil rights regulation is incomplete. American civil rights regulation also contains a set of "equality directives," whose emergence and reach in recent years have gone unrecognized in the commentary. These federal-level equality directives use administrative tools of conditioned spending, policymaking, and oversight powerfully to promote substantive inclusion with regard to race, ethnicity, language, and disability. These directives move beyond the constraints of the standard private …

Islamic Law Meets Erisa: How America's Private Pension System Unintentionally Discriminates Against Muslims And What To Do About It, Beverly I. Moran

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This article asks whether Muslims whose religious beliefs prevent investment in their employers’ private pension plans have a right to religious accommodation. This is a real issue for a growing part of the population whose spiritual lives are governed by rules that prohibit the giving or taking of interest. As one might expect, the investments available through most American pension plans involve some aspect of interest making those investments unsuitable retirement vehicles for devote Muslims. Consequently, in order to secure their retirement income, Muslims are faced with either violating their religious beliefs, losing years of investment opportunity as they wait …

Defusing Implicit Bias, Jonathan Feingold, Karen Lorang

Faculty Scholarship

The February 2012 killing of Trayvon Martin has slowly reignited the national conversation about race and violence. Despite the sheer volume of debate arising from this tragedy, insufficient attention has been paid to the potentially deadly mix of guns and implicit bias. Evidence of implicit bias, and its power to alter real-world behavior, is stronger now than ever. A growing body of research on “shooter bias” reveals that, as a result of implicit bias, White and Black Americans are more likely to shoot unarmed Black men than unarmed White men. The problem has been diagnosed. What remains to be determined …

"By Some Other Means": Considering The Executive Role In Fostering Subnational Human Rights Compliance, Risa E. Kaufman

Human Rights Institute

The broad realization of human rights domestically requires strong partnership among all levels of government. Indeed, international and domestic law support an important role for state and local governments in implementing the United States’ human rights treaty commitments, with the federal government retaining ultimate responsibility. While the federal government’s responsibility is clear, its options for fostering and facilitating subnational compliance have not been fully explicated. United States’ human rights treaty ratification practices and recent Supreme Court jurisprudence primarily constrain the Executive’s ability to compel state and local compliance without congressional authorization. In the absence of such congressional action, the Executive …

Racial Cartels And The Thirteenth Amendment Enforcement Power, Darrell A. H. Miller

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.